A Glendale Picnic

Bridget Beck

I create large-scale sculpture, drawings, and community collaborations. When working in one of these forms, I am in direct contact with my materials whether it is metal or ink on paper. My work is intimate and very flawed because this personal aspect of the work is of the utmost importance. Sculptures and projects show evidence of a personal physical struggle in connecting pieces of metal where individual welds are as much a record of my own process as they are tempered marks on finished works. Constructivism, surrealism, formalism, civic function and storytelling are playfully mixed in creating connection to the viewer or participant.

“The sculpture isn’t complete until people are actually sitting on it,” says YOU ARE HERE artist Bridget Beck, “I consider the community to be one of the materials in constant flux in my work. It changes character with the conversations that inhabit all the spaces in between. I’ve hidden secret narratives everywhere. A Glendale Picnic is not only full of actual verbal conversation, it also has a physical record of all of the days I’ve spent working on it. I have created a personal physical language in all welds and the little bits and pieces.”

‘A Glendale Picnic’ is a fantastical picnic structure. The 18’ diameter steel sculpture constructed out of reclaimed materials invites visitors to navigate their choice of entrance, enjoy the whimsical bits and bends of metal and commune with nature and each other.